Valve cover gaskets

if it´s original or just old...replace it

it´s not worth the hassle to NOT do it now and have to do it later AFTER a leak starts and ruins the paint job on the valve cover!!

you should be able to get one from a local parts store

HTH

He´s right if it´s the original or just old, replace it. just to be safe. but if you know the engine has been torn apart once before and it may still be good you could keep it as a backup or something. I dunno. My advice is the same, just change it out and be done with it. ;-)

replace the gasket, and get a felpro.

I personally dont see the point in painting the valve cover, but hey do what you want to do.

well when urs looks like mine, a crappy dark grey color with an apparent incorrect paint usage is pealing off of the letters, it might be a good idea to do it correctly ;-)

Well Siragan, there is no performance benefit from doing it...but it´s just fun to do and it makes your car looks better hehehe...its detailing man!!! its very important

what kind/brand of paint will you be using on the cover??? Is it expensive?? Would the cover need to be sandblasted and primed first?? This mod is something I´ve been wanting to do for a while, I figured I´d wait till I got my cams first. ;-)

replace it....its 12 bucks

by all means replace it, ive actually had bad luck with felpro. Napa makes a real nice cork and metal one for the 1st gens, closer to 20 bucks but better than rubber ones i've had. make sure you torque your bolts evenly, leaks are 90% of the time caused by improper torque of the bolts.

oh, dont paint, powdercoat! really, the work you'll go through to strip, prep, prime the metal, then finally paint it, it'll be out of your car for a couple days. I went to a junkyard, pulled a cover, mailed it to a powdercoater, who then mediablasted all the old crap off and powdercoated it for me. Research your powdercoater however. I got mine cheaply done, and the finish is spider cracked all over and looks like crap now. But for the original discussion see my pretty pictures!!!!! (scroll to the bottom)

The valve cover looks great!!!
That's a great color!! Are you planning on powdercoating anything else under the hood?? You should chrome the air canister, SWEEET!! Laterz

Hi Pplz,

Well...i've used some paint that could resist heat up to 1200 F....but i guess you could have used paint that could resist heat up to 500 F...you can buy spray cans almost everywhere....even Wall-mart !!! and they cost around 6-8 $ CAN...so probably 5 $ US

well...i took me two days to do mine....and it cost me 6 $ .....
I first took off my valve cover, then i cleaned it with a heavy degreaser (for engine) and i sand it with my grinder (used with a metal brush, not the grinding STONE!!! ) and I paint it...don't use PRIMER or CLEAR COAT...they are not meant to resist high temp....or unless you find some that do...but i didn't ! I did 3 coats of painting.......


here is the link to the result..i think it's not bad for 6 $ !http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=355428
Ciao,
Electronikal (maxime)

Oh...and the bolt in the center is not painted black because when i did replace my valve cover..i broke this bolt inside my HEAD !!!DAMN IT !!! i overtightened the BOLT !!! DON'T DO THAT !! it's a pain in the ass to go buy another bolt, and then drill throught the bold ( cauz i couldn't remove it!!!) and then re-do the bolt's groove with a special tool !!!!!

so...if you'r planing to do it...PLEASE be carefull!! and dont overtighten!!..go slowly ahaha especially if you dont know what you are doing!!!!!!!

ciao
Maxxx

browntown said:

by all means replace it, ive actually had bad luck with felpro. Napa makes a real nice cork and metal one for the 1st gens, closer to 20 bucks but better than rubber ones i've had. make sure you torque your bolts evenly, leaks are 90% of the time caused by improper torque of the bolts.

Click to expand...

Where were you when the asses that were working on my car after the timing belt blew were tightening my cover down?
I was leaking oil like mad all over the driveway till one day i got pissed and started looking around to see what it could be.

I found two things:
1) the damn drain plug was so loose i could tighten it down with my fingers. 8O

2) i changed my spark plugs a little later that night and noticed that I could also tighten not just one or two, but ALL the bolts on my valve cover with my fingers. So I whipped out my haynes book and torqued em down in order...haven't had a problem since. even though she still uses oil... but not like that. :roll: damned "mechanics"